Good News

National Journal’s Richard E. Cohen asks, “Could Lightning Strike?”:

Now, however, many once-dispirited House Democrats believe that the conditions are ripe for lightning to strike. Democrats think their electoral prospects have markedly improved over the past three months, thanks to President Bush’s continuing struggles with the economy and Iraq, and to the enthusiasm generated within their own party by their presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

A newfound optimism appears to have swept across the House Democrats’ oftenfeisty factions. “It’s palpable,” House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters recently. “There is a real sense of pragmatism among Democrats to win this election.”